subject: Warming Up Before Playing Sports Or Exercise [print this page] To avoid any type of sports injury, you should properly warm up before you begin to play a sport or start a workout regimen. Warming up will help your muscles and your body adjust to the physical activity you're about to partake in. Many sports injuries occur as a result of failing to warm up, from sprains and muscle strains to broken bones and fainting. A simple warm up will keep you from having to visit the physical therapists office with an injury.
One of the things warming up does is it increases the amount of adrenaline in your body. This will allow you to participate more actively in the sport or workout you want to do. It will also increase your heart rate, which helps blood get to your muscles more quickly, and put more oxygen into the blood stream. This allows you to be able to have more endurance and withstand more physical activity.
When you warm up your muscles, you are increasing the range of motion for those muscles. The increase in your body temperature that occurs when you warm up helps your muscles elasticity. All of the things that occur in your body when you warm up will help your muscles to adjust to the work they are about to do.
Another benefit of warming up before sports or a big game is that it gives you a chance to focus. You are able to visualize what you want your body to do and how you want to approach the game. Warming up is a chance to listen to some music and just think about what you're going to do. Being able to get your mind in the right place can help you attack a work out with your best foot forward or can even help you win a game.
There are a number of different types of warm ups you can do when you work out. Some people begin their work out simply by walking. Static stretches are just stretches that you do for a few minutes before the work out. They get you moving, but not too much, and they warm up the muscles by stretching them out. You should avoid bouncing and jumping around as a form of warm up, because it can result in injury.
People that participate in sports often warm up by completing a physical movement similar to what they do in the sport, but without as much effort. People who play basketball might dribble the ball and practice the movements they make when shooting a basket to work those specific muscles they need. Runners often take a jog before they begin any long distance running or sprinting that needs to be done.
It is just as important when working out to cool down just like you warmed up. A cool down is basically the same thing. It gives your muscle a chance to slowly decrease their strain and activity so you can return to your normal resting state.
